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Albensir yega yan gh inemghuren n rrwayes lli izêra Sus, negh akw Merrok, g tigariwin ad. Illul gh Tmsult gh uqbil n Ilbensiren gh useggwas n 1937. Mad yad ikka timezgida, ikes ulli, zun d akw ineggwa nnes, ittut s umarg. Lligh ar en ittimghur s imik, yufan ixef nnes izdâr ad ittengidi d indâmen n uhêwac, mkan nnit af d ittfugh ar ittendâm gh usays n usun. Ur izri yat s igh idda ikcem, afad yisin i Rribab lli yegan yat gh tmatarin n tmagit n Rrays, s trabbut n Hêmad Amentag d tin Wahruc.

Mad yad izzri yan krâd iseggwasen d trubba yad, idda s Lalman yilin gis zegh 1961 ar 1964, maca yusi ids tagezzayt n umarg, ur tin tesmyur tudert n uzwag. Yurri d ilemma s Merrok ikcem i tirruysa, isti ad gisent isker tudert nnes d twuri. Zegh 1965 ad isat ar d iseffagh tisfifin. Mekli yega anedâm ar isenmili awal, ur ikki yat s igh yega Rrays ittuyassanen, isker adghar nnes gh ubaraz n ayt umarg. Ar ittek timizar d temdinin lligh llan Icelhîyen, ar izray gh lidaàa. Afella wawal, yega Rrays Muhâmmad Albensir, negh Damsiri lli yas ttaran gh iggi n tesfifin llid issffugh. Maca, gh useggwas n 1969 tfelt tdusi nnes. Lligh idda ad ikk darsen, idêren s Tumubil, irêz, ighwi talkrusat. Mqqar yeg abidâr, ur ibdî d umarg. Idêfr tagharast nnes, yacki d akw izedgh gh Tgemmi Tumlilt, tamdint lligh gguten Icelhîyen. Mqqar yurar zun d akw wiyyâd tayri d tmukrisin n tudert, Albensir izêli, nger akw Rrways n tasut nnes, s turarin lli isker f tmukrisin mqqurnin n tsertit d tmagit, zun d tin usurs n tmazight, tin ugren, d temzgida n Tgemmi Tumlilt.

Addad ad ad ifkan i Albensir yan udem izêlin, ad t igan d Albensir. Lligh issen mas yeg amezwag n umarg lligh t tfel tdusi nnes, immagh ad as ifek atig, at isseffagh gh usurs mezzîyen lligh ran ad t gen inebâden n tmazirt. Is ur inni:

Mac atig ad ur n izri iwetta n illigh isawal d willi s isawal, acku tanebâdt ur tefki atig nnes i tcelhîyt. Nettat nnit izêra ixef nnes. Is ur yurar, zun d akw wiyyâd, addur n tgeldit, d tmurt, is ur inni mas yeg yan gh iserdâsen n tmazirt, d tirsal nnes, mac ur t gis yiwi yan, ur t izêri yan, ur as inni yan yat, ttunt, rurent f tesga, zêlin as tamettant zun d igh immut uydi gh umedduz. Is ur izêri mas d lidaàa ar sul tzâlla ghas s Abdelhalim, d Um Keltum, d Abdelwahab, izêra kullu mayad:

Mqqar d mayan, ur ibêdi d umarg, ur ibêdi d wawal lligh t ittaru, iserfufent. Issen is is ur ili atig dar tenbâdt, mac ilat is dar winnes, willif d ilul, willis isawal, issar idsen tama immimen, mqqar tmrret. Addad ad iceqqan irzêm d i kigan n tmmariwin f Rrays, izêra sis talekkawt n inebâden, ikka aghzu lligh yurar f tmukrist n ugguren gh useggwas n 1982, tamettant ka at ikksen i tayyâd lligh yurar f tadêsa n temzgida mqquren.

Albesnir isker timidî n tesfifin, immut ass n 11 nuwanbir gh useggwas n 1989 gh Tgemmi Tumlilt.

Afulay

tamazight | français | English

Mohamed Albensir (dit Damsiri) est l’un des plus grands rrays contemporains. Ce fils de boucher est né en 1937 à Tamsoult, dans le territoire des Ilbensiren (Haut-Atlas occidental). Il a le parcours classique de tout jeune Amazigh du Sud du Maroc (école coranique, randonnées pastorales derrière le cheptel familial) mais il est happé très jeune par le monde de la poésie et de la musique. Il fait preuve dans les cérémonies d’ahwach d’un don poétique exceptionnel. Il tient ainsi tête dans les asays (place villageoise où s’exécute l’ahwach) aux plus grands poètes de sa région. Fort de cette expérience, il rejoint en 1958 les troupes des chanteurs Amentag et Ahrouch. Il s’attache alors à mieux maîtriser la vielle monocorde ribab qui caractérise la tradition des Rways.

Après quelques années d’exil en Allemagne (1961–1964), il retourne au Maroc pour devenir chanteur professionnel. Dès 1965, il commence à enregistrer des albums. En 1969, un terrible accident de la route le rend paraplégique. Il s’installe alors à Casablanca auprès de la plus importante communauté émigrée chleuh. Composant et chantant en tachelhit, il acquiert une renommée au sein de sa communauté et parmi les auditeurs de la section « dialectale » (qism allahajat) de la radio nationale. Il chante, à côté de thèmes sociaux et affectifs, sa colère de l’attitude méprisante des autorités envers les Amazighs et leur culture.

La contestation a marqué la trajectoire poétique et militante d’Albensir. Il a certes chanté, au début de sa carrière, la gloire de la monarchie et de la nation, mais en vain : l’indifférence des représentants de la « nation » chantée et glorifiée le conduit à prendre conscience de la position dominée et marginale de son métier et, partant, de sa culture amazighe. Devant le mépris opposé à son art, Albensir ne se résigne pas. Il passe à la révolte et exprime dans un langage clair son attachement à sa culture natale. Ainsi, il compose au début des années soixante-dix une chanson-poème où il exprime toute sa déception et sa colère envers un pouvoir méconnaissant :

Selon lui, le pouvoir n’est pas simplement indifférent, il est aussi aliéné puisqu’il ne reconnaît de la chanson que celle exprimée en arabe par des nationaux ou des Égyptiens comme Abdelhalim Hafiz et Abdelawah. Cette attitude ravive chez lui le sentiment douloureux de la marginalité. L’État, chante-t-il, ignore les chanteurs chleuhs dont il se sent le porte-parole. Il ne « nous » réserve, poursuit-il, qu’une mort indigne et silencieuse dans les marges de la cité comme des chiens errants (zun d igh immut uydi gh umedduz). L’humoriste chleuh Abdallah Anidif résume ainsi la place de la culture amazighe dans les média : Tumêz tcelhît gh lidaàa uncek lli tamêz lebcklît gh ccanti (la place qu’occupe tachelhit à la radio est la même que celle d’une bicyclette sur la route).

Loin d’abandonner sa « petite tradition » poétique pour s’intégrer dans la « haute culture » imposée, Albensir est le premier rrays à chanter la langue amazighe. Il déclare ainsi son inscription dans la marginalité :

Attentif aux mouvements sociaux, les chansons du rrays, en particulier celles qui font allusion à la situation politique, sont parfois à l’origine d’intimidations et persécutions. En 1982, il est emprisonné durant une semaine en raison de sa chanson aggurn (la farine), très critique du gouvernement après « les émeutes du pain » (suite à la terrible sécheresse de 1981). Une autre de ses chansons, sur la mosquée de Hassan II, vilipende sans ménagement le gouvernement et ses pratiques oppressives.

Albensir a enregistré près de 100 cassettes. Il meurt à l’âge de 53 ans à Casablanca, le 11 novembre 1989.

Azawan.com
D’après Agizul, Afulay, Ouazzi Lahoucine et Stroomer

tamazight | français | English

Mohamed Albensir, or Damsiri as he was known, was one of the greatest comtemporary rrays. His father was a butcher and he was born in 1937 in Tamsoult, in Ilbensiren territory (in the High Western Atlas). He followed the usual path taken by any young Amazigh of southern Morocco (Koranic School, pastoral wanderings behind the family flock) but was caught up, whilst still very young, in the world of poetry and music. He showed that he had an exceptional gift for poetry during ahwash ceremonies. He also held his own in asays (the village squares where the ahwash ceremonies take place) with the greatest poets of his region. With this experience behind him, he joined the troupes of the singers Amentag and Ahrouch, in 1958. He then worked on mastering the playing of the one-string lute called the ribab which characterises the Rways tradition.

After having spent several years in Germany from 1961 to 1964, he returned to Morocco and became a professional singer. From 1965, he started recording albums. In 1969, a terrible road accident rendered him paraplegic and he set up home in Casablanca where most of the Shleuh migrants lived. Composing and singing in Tashelhit, he became very well-known amongst the Ishelhiyn community and the audience for the "dialect" service (qism allahajat) of the national radio. Besides singing about social and emotional themes, he also expressed his anger and denounced the dismissive attitude shown by the authorities.

This rebelliousness indicates the poetical and militant road taken by Albensir. At the beginning of his career, he had in fact glorified the monarchy and the nation. Thinking he would be able to be part of the national tradition in composing songs in which he expressed his attachment to the throne and to his homeland, he had rather to face the fact that his culture was being sidelined. The indifference of the "nation’s" representatives, sung and glorified, made him realise that his profession was dominated and maginalised, and that at the same time, so was his Amazigh culture. Albensir did not resign himself to the scorn with which his art was greeted, but decided to revolt and express in the clearest way possible his attachment to his native culture. He consequently composed a song-poem at the beginning of the seventies, in which he spoke about his disappointment and his anger with those in power, who were showing such a lack of appreciation.

According to him, those in power were not simply unappreciative, they were also alienated because they only recognised songs sung in Arabic either by Moroccans or by Egyptians such as Abdelhalim Hafiz and Abdelwah. This attitude revived once more in him the painful feeling of being marginalised. The State, he sang, marginalises Shleuh singers, of whom he felt he was the spokesman. He continued "they want us to die silently and without dignity, on the fringes of the city like pariah dogs (zun d igh immut uydi gh umedduz, to die amongst the leavings of animals like pariah dogs). The Shleuh humorist, Abdallah Anidif spoke succinctly of the place held by this culture in the media: Tumez teshelhit gh lidaa uncek lli tamez lebcklît gh ccanti ccanti (the space taken up by the Tashelhit language on the radio is the same as that taken up by a bicycle on the road).

Far from abandoning his "small poetical tradition" to take his place amongst those practicing the imposed "high culture", Albensir was the first rrays to sing in Amazigh. In this way, he made a statement about his marginalisation:

As he was attentive to social movements and as some if his songs in particular spoke about the political situation, this often led to intimidation and persecution. In 1982, he was imprisoned for a week because of his song aggurn (flour) which criticised the government during what were later called the bread riots (after the terrible drought in 1981). Another of his songs about the Hassan II mosque reviles the government and its oppressive practices without pity.

Albensir recorded nearly 100 cassettes. He died at the age of 53 in Casablanca on the 11th of November, 1989.

Azawan.com
According to Agizul, Afulay, Ouazzi Lahoucine et Stroomer
Translated from French by Wendy Ouali